


6x01/6x02: Back to Your Roots

by nightbirdrises



Series: S6 Reaction Drabbles [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, M/M, Reaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-10
Packaged: 2018-03-06 22:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3151430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightbirdrises/pseuds/nightbirdrises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When home can no longer be a person, home means going back to your roots, back to where hearts can be rebuilt in the safety of familiarity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	6x01/6x02: Back to Your Roots

**Author's Note:**

> Reaction fics are back! Please note that I will in no way exclude Dave Karofsky from my reaction fics, and this one is an example of that. You can find these fics (and other reaction fics of mine) on tumblr [here](http://princehummel.tumblr.com/tagged/reaction%20fic).

"Hey, where are you goin’?" Burt calls from his chair. "It’s not even ten. Thought you were gonna be at that bar all night."

"Not now, Dad," Kurt says, avoiding his gaze as he passes. He’s well aware that his dad knows something’s up, but he’s also aware that he won’t press for information until Kurt’s willing to share. "Just need some time alone."

"Alright. Just yell if you need me," Burt says. Kurt nods and makes his way to his old bedroom. Well, not so much  _old_  anymore; it’s his own once again, at least for the time being. He hesitates before finally sitting down on the bed, worried for a moment that this, his decision to come back, had been all wrong.

He’s out of tears to shed for now. All that’s left is a constricting tightness in his throat, a crushing weight on his chest, and a burgeoning headache centered in his temples for which he should really take some ibuprofen. Kurt stares at the wall, takes deep, deliberate breaths. He’s home again, and once again, Ohio feels like what he imagines hell would feel like, minus the actual flames. There’s even a devil disguised as a beardless bear.

Kurt lets out his next breath in a scoff. He can’t kid himself into thinking he actually  _hates_  Dave. Sure, he’d probably be well within his rights to despise even the mere sight of him, but it’s not entirely the person that bothers him about this whole situation. Partly, yes - there is a history that can’t be ignored, but that history has long since been forgiven, if not forgotten. No, it’s the fact that Blaine is clearly in a better place right now without him, as selfish as that thought may be. It’s the fact that he’d gone in thinking he would win Blaine’s forgiveness and his heart and left with the sinking thought that  _this must be it_. It’s the end of their story.

Right?

He’s home again. He’s going to work at McKinley, possibly one of his least favorite places in the world if not for the New Directions. But then, that’s it, isn’t it? His roots - the roots of who he is now - have their home in the New Directions, right from the very beginning. Blaine isn’t home anymore, and Kurt has no right to think of him as such until he’s been forgiven, if that ever happens. But… Blaine has never been his  _only_  home.

Kurt lies back on his bed and imagines that the shards of himself are scattered around him. Maybe he’s a bit of a loser for coming home after making it in New York, for sacrificing the city for a currently nonexistent show choir. That’s not the point. He came home to get Blaine back, but there’s more to it than that. He’s home to put himself back together again. The New Directions saved him before, and he’s prepared to let that club do it again, if only because it’s home.

If hell is home, then so be it. He’ll walk through the fires once more if it means he’ll feel like Kurt Hummel again.

Kurt sighs, rolls to his side only to find himself face-to-face with a photograph of him and Blaine on his bedside table. He smiles sadly at it, then reaches to put it face-down on the tabletop. Whether it’s really over or not, his first concern right now has to be the new New Directions. 

"Hey, I know you want to be alone right now, but Carole says she’s making some herbal tea, if you want any." Kurt sits up a little and looks at the door, cracked open an inch.

"Actually, is it okay if I have some hot chocolate?" he asks, biting his lip. "With whipped cream." Even through the small crack in the doorway, he can see Burt smile.

"You got it, buddy."

Strangely enough, even with everything that’s wrong right in front of his eyes, it’s still good to be home. Here, he will heal. That’s what home is for.

 

* * *

 

Blaine pulls up to Dalton the next day with a song in his head, but not in his heart. He smiles at everyone he passes in the grand halls, then smiles at the blazer on display in the generously large space he’d been offered as coach of the Warblers. He is  _happy_  here. It’s where he first felt not only accepted, but safe. Even more than his own house, it’s like home.

He wouldn’t have thought that six months ago, of course. Six months ago, Kurt was home. And then… everything fell to pieces. Again. Only, this time, Blaine isn’t exactly sure what happened except that they’d failed to communicate properly.

Again.

His anger with Kurt has faded, for the most part. He has taken almost all the steps needed to feel better, from therapy to his reintroduction to music in the form of the Warblers. He  _does_  feel better, he feels happy. Mostly. Sometimes it’s difficult to sleep. Sometimes he still catches himself sleeping only on his side of the bed, forgetting that there’s no one there to sleep on the other side. Sometimes he spots a bouquet of flowers for sale, and instead of thinking of his boyfriend, he thinks of Kurt, and of how much he loves the smell of flowers.

Blaine knows Kurt too well not to have noticed his discomfort last night, of course. He knew it would happen, but the way he saw it before meeting up with him, he had two choices: he could hide this part of his life from someone who, he hopes, is still a friend. Or, he could be honest about his new relationship, even if he knows it would throw Kurt out of balance a bit. He chose the latter for its honesty. Maybe also for its bluntness, to throw his ex off.

Blaine shakes his head at himself, props his feet up on his desk. He’s not after any kind of revenge. Kurt’s nowhere near a bad person, and as much as it pains him sometimes, he still carries love for him. How could he not? He was his first in everything.

"Hey, Mr. Anderson?" Blaine quickly puts his feet down - he’s already been told to keep his feet off of all furniture - and looks towards the door with a smile. "I’m not going to make it to Warbler practice today, my mom caught a nasty cold and she needs me to pick up medicine after classes end. Is that okay?"

"It’s no problem, don’t worry about it," Blaine says easily. "Family comes before the brotherhood."

"Great, thank you, Mr. Anderson," the student says, flashing a grin before he closes the door. Blaine takes a breath and sets to shuffling through the sheet music in front of him. All this stuff about Kurt doesn’t really matter anymore. He has a new boyfriend who’s nothing like Kurt, and it’s not like he’s  _pretending_  to like his company - Dave has been nothing but kind and understanding. Maybe the pet names are a bit much, but he’d chosen them because they don’t remind him of his relationship with Kurt, like  _sweetheart_  and  _honey_  do. 

No, he can’t go back. Which is why he’s here - it’s a new beginning, again. Dalton is safe, has always been safe for him. It’s where he can enjoy music again, lead the group that had welcomed him with open arms after the Sadie Hawkins disaster, and get settled into a life without Kurt in it. A life he’d never dared to imagine in the past, but which has become a necessity now that their era has come to a close.

Dalton is home. It stopped being home for a while, but it’s still here for him and always will be. He can renew himself here, shake off the rain clouds hanging over his head. Tradition, structure, organized camaraderie - that’s what it’s all about, after all. Safety.

Here, his heart can become whole again. He can start over. That’s all he needs, for now.


End file.
